Put on a smile, and don't worry
by jamescoco
Summary: What happened the morning after Dumbledore put Harry Potter on his only relative's porch. - Leads up to Dudley's birthday.


"Vernon, Vernon!" Petunia screamed from the top of her lungs looking down at what's in front of her. It was early Saturday morning and she was getting the mail for herself and her husband. Her son Dudley was in his cot fast asleep, surprisingly he didn't wake to the sound of his mother's screech. Vernon waddled over with his coffee in his hand a frustrated look upon his face.

"What, what is it Petunia? I was watching the news. There has been a bank robbery and-" he didn't continue for he looked at the ground and there was a baby, he had dark hair and a lightning bolt on his forehead. Wrapped inside a blanket there placed a note for the married couple. They were a young couple not a day over 23. Petunia crouched down and looked at the babe in front of her picking it up and handing the letter to her husband. He looked at it and squinted.

"Open it!" She said annoyed cradling the new found baby in her arms cooing over it. Vernon turned it over and opened it up to look at what it said.

"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,

Lily and James Potter passed away late last night in a fight. We have left your nephew Harry James in your hands for you're the only remaining relatives he has. We hope you take care of him and we hope to see you soon.

From Professor Albus Dumbledore"

The couple stared at the letter then at young Harry who was asleep in Petunia's bony arms. They didn't know what to do, give it up for adoption or keep it. Vernon an over-weight male with black hair and a bushy moustache looked from the paper, the baby and his wife – rinse and repeat. They were shocked and scared; Vernon knew about Lily Evans, he knew that she practised witchcraft, that she was a freak. Petunia didn't know whether to cry with joy that her sister was gone or cry with sadness that her sister was gone. It seemed to be both, she cried over Harry and Vernon hugged her. They walked back inside but Petunia never let go of Harry.

"What are we going to do?" Vernon finally asked breaking the silence, Petunia's make up was running and she sighed.

"L-look." She quivered "We'll keep him" Vernon tried to protest, he didn't want another freak into the household. "We keep him, and if we don't send him to that retched school then he won't turn out like his mother and father. He won't turn into a freak!" Petunia said with a smile. Vernon paced around thinking through her plan, and he stopped and nodded.

"We take him in and no magic happens. Fine, we need to find another cot for him then. Do you think Marge would have one?" Vernon asked his wife and she shook her small head. Vernon nodded in acceptance and started to pace around the room again thinking of who'd have a cot. There would be no way they'd take young Harry into their home and buy a new cot for him. No that would be used for their own son. It was only a week ago that they had gotten a letter from Lily and James keeping them up to date about their son, Petunia would throw it into the rubbish bin and grumble in annoyance. Her sister is a witch, and she hated her, she'd always see Lily as nothing else but a freak. Now her son was one too. The one thing the couple was worried about was people finding out about him. During the next couple of weeks, the pair did their usual things with Harry in the back of their mind, they bought another cot in the meantime, something that was cheap and something they would never find Dudley in.

"They died in a car accident" Vernon spoke, the two sat at the dinner table. Steak and vegetables again. Petunia looked at her husband in disbelief and confused. "If anyone asks who this is, we tell them that it is your sister's and she and her husband died in a car accident" Petunia nodded nibbling at finger nails, which she only did when she was nervous or stress and she was both.

"Okay, we'll do that. Lily and James Potter died in a car accident. We got Harry Potter."

The years passed, Harry and Dudley grew older and once they both were old enough to sleep in a bed and not a cot anymore Petunia and Vernon made Harry sleep in the cupboards under the stairs where he would spend the rest of time. The two were scared of Harry secretly but they showed dominance and produced fear for Harry, for Harry to be afraid of his Aunt and Uncle – which they both wanted. He was getting to the age that Petunia remembered, he was become an 8 year old. When Lily was 8 she did magical things, things she couldn't explain. Whenever Petunia cut Harry's hair, it grew back a day later, sometimes things caught on fire, or things flooded and Harry found himself on the roof and Petunia and Vernon was always embarrassed whenever he did things in public. Petunia was scared, every day Harry looked more and more like his parents, he had his mother's hair and his dad's hair and eyesight. Every morning Petunia wakes up and sighs scared about what's going to happen next, if Harry's going to do something to embarrass her or if he's going to stir things up. This morning she was especially scared because it was her Dudley's birthday today he was turning 11 and they were going to the zoo. Their neighbour can't look after Harry so they have to take Harry with them to the zoo and she was scared.

"Come on, come on get up!" Petunia yelled tapping on Harry's door. She left and closed the door behind her "Please god, nothing happen today" she breathed under her breath. She felt like something bad was happening; she had a hunch that Harry was going to do something but nothing came to mind what he'd do. She looked at Vernon who looked back at Petunia, he was also scared but he didn't show it. Dudley came through the door and Petunia put a smile on her face, it was her son's birthday and all she'll show is a smile.

'_Put on a smile, and don't worry. It's a new day Petunia, he's not going to do anything to you_'


End file.
